pictures

i posted some pictures on facebook for everyone's enjoyment.
http://georgetown.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083094&l=576fe&id=1400123
enjoy.

i am a peace corps trainee

This is my first entry in country. Obviously very exciting. I wrote this while sitting with my family in the living room. The TV is on, though the electricity se va y llega, it comes and goes. It is pretty much a fiesta when it comes on. Anyway, its been pretty much a fiesta here. A fiesta for my mind, and soul. Corny, perhaps, but true. Also note I didn’t say body. I haven’t gotten sick in the gastro-intestinal sense yet, but I have an eye infection and a rash, and I have never sweated this much in my life. When you stand up, you sweat. When you sit down, you sweat. I walk from my barrio to training, a simple 20 minute walk, and I am absolutely drenched when I get there. That is at 8AM. Today was actually a nice day, I only sweated on the way home. Also today we had a little get-together for someone’s birthday today (Ma’ayan – yom huledet sameach), it was really nice seeing each other in a social setting outside of training. Still, I love being with my family. 4 kids (Frendi, age 15, Fredul, 11, Catherine, 8, Edili, 6; yes, these names were invented by the parents) who are thrilled with me at their house, a mother who treats me like one of her own, I am next door to an internet cafÈ and a chicken farm. The other day my father cut down a few coconuts from the coconut tree in the chicken farm with his massive machete and opened them so we could drink the "agua de coco" and eat the coconut meat. I also eat tons of carbs and have been told I am too skinny and need to eat more. I was called "indio," which I think is pretty cool. It means I don’t look gringo.
As I have mentioned to some people back home, the other volunteers here are amazing. I couldn’t have chosen a better group of 50 people. I can’t say enough of how motivated, sincere and intelligent they are. Everyone seems to care so much about what they are doing here. Beautiful.
This weekend is Yom Kippur. I will attempt to navigate the insanity of the public transportation system to get downtown to the synagogue. The busses are called guaguas; they try to shove as many people as possible inside. Besides the infrequent and randomly numbered busses (the ones that come up this way are 10B, 23, 27, and 69), there are carros publicos, cars that run up and down major streets that you can flag down and get in. Note that these aren’t taxis, people get in and out of them at will. There are no official stops. The first one I ever got in had a completely smashed windshield and the paint was all rusted off. People get pickpocketed in them all the time. We are suggested not to use them after dark, about 7:30. We have to watch out for "tigueres," or sketchy dudes. One last note, they use the "snap" here all the time. My ability to snap is highly esteemed and will come in handy all the time. Many thanks to the people’s house. Hasta pronto.

leaving great neck

Looks like it thats time, folks. Today I am off to Washington, DC for staging, a kind of pre-orientation. I leave today and stay with my roomates from last year, and then the staging is the 11th to the 13th. We get a bunch of seminars about how to survive in the Peace Corps. I've gotten a lot of questions about what exactly I'll be doing. I don't really know what I'll be doing until I get to my site, which will be in late November. But I will post here the description given below.

Community Economic Development volunteers will work primarily in rural areas. They will engage in numerous activities that range from business education to strategic planning to technical assistance. They may work with farmers groups, agrarian cooperatives as well as with micro-entrepreneurs receiving loans from micro-credit organizations. They also promote the improvement of business and leadership skills with Dominican youth through capacity building workshops.

I also just finished my tour of duty as an Ambassador at the US Open. Essentially, I wore a straw hat and Ralph Lauren and waved at people when they arrived or left the grounds. I also attempted to do some semblance of crowd control outside Arthur Ashe Stadium in between the daytime and evening sessions. I worked from 9 to 8 or 8:30, and I stood for about 8 of those 11 hours. My heels are very tender and my skin pretty dark. I did meet some fun people and got to see a few matches. I watched a couple Roger matches in the second week, he is truly amazing. I also ran into a few people: Cal Watson, Robbie Arnay, Brian and Jenna, two aunts and an uncle, Taline Pampanini, Amanda Setton, Andy Jeninga, Afua Tay, and Steph Ramirez. I know there were more, but I can't remember them all now. I also had meaningful conversations with Eliot Spitzer, Richard Williams (father of Serena and Venus), and Patrick McEnroe. I got a huge snub from Chris Evert.

This will likely be the last post in America. Cheers.